Maple Leaves
by theblondeknight45
Summary: Samey's life isn't particularly great, after all, she faces challenge after challenge just being Amy's sister, but does she stop to consider that there are others like her? Wow...this this summary kinda sucks...basically it's a Samey-centric One-Shot I started writing today out of the blue, because we need more Samey! Please R&R! :D


Samey One Shot

The opening of the front door, a teenage girl's loud sigh, and the subsequent slamming of the front door broke the peacefulness of the quiet house that was in the very center of the suburban street. A thud rang through the modestly large house, and somewhat hollow, home as her backpack fell; she stormed up the stairs and her feet made every step ring just as loud as the backpack had. The door to her room was left open that morning but she shut it behind her and ran straight to her bed where she fell face down and went limp.

She didn't make a sound and it was as though she lay frozen, as though some invisible person was painting the scene. The sunlight shining into the room from the large window on the far wall baked her skin but she absorbed it readily, continuing to stare into her bed for a long while before turning over and giving the ceiling the same treatment.

She pondered going down to the kitchen to get a bowl of ice cream, but Amy would surely bust her for it when she got home, and besides, the last thing Samey wanted to do right now was move around.

Cheer practice had been harsh before, and there was a time when she was reluctant to do it, only trying out at Amy's harsh insistence, but she had grown more fond of it over the years, and now, it was one of the biggest parts of her life. Sadly, Amy was too, by default, but she had always tainted cheer for Samey. Now that she was promoted to co-captain, and working with the 12th grade captain Betty Daniels, who held a minor prejudice against Samey already, cheer had lost most of its charm.

Even worse was the fact that a lot of Samey's friends on cheer were suffering for associating with her. Dark days were coming, well, darker than her days were right now, and all because the co-captain seat was left to a vote. If had been a contest of cheer skill she might have had a shot, but popularity was Amy's game, and Samey was a fool for ever trying to beat her at that.

She once again sighed loudly and shifted to her side, looking out the window at the maple tree in the front yard. Its leaves were evolving into fascinating shades of red and yellow and brown, but they depressed Samey more than anything, falling sadly down in the cool wind. She knew the feeling of an overbearing force pushing her around too.

One such leaf of a crimson red color was blown right into the window and fell down weakly onto her windowsill. She felt the urge to go and pick it up, but the urge to sulk on her bed won out in the end and she remained in place.

Her schoolwork was getting brutal, she hadn't a clue what the future held or how she wanted to go about it, and she felt isolated from almost everyone who cared for her. The one positive aspect of the day was that it was Thursday. Even that was a small consolation, though, compared to how horribly she felt.

She tried not to think about it, but the creeping worry of her English essay tomorrow morning burdened her, and was intensified by the worry that Jane and Katie might want to back out of their plans for Saturday, given how horrible Amy was being in Cheer. Above all, though, she missed the comfort of those who understood her. She never had too many friends in school and their street didn't have many teenagers, much less any that wanted to befriend the twins (either due to Amy's unkind nature or Samey's association to her). The worst pain though, and the deepest burn of loneliness came with the absence of her father.

"Daddy's girl" was one of Amy's first and most classic taunts. He used to be around more, but as he moved up in his company, he began to take more numerous and long-lasting business trips; as it was he barely stayed home three days before he was gone for over a week and a half, and he spent a lot of it resting himself and preparing for the next trip. Samey couldn't remember when the last time the two had a meaningful talk over a snack was, nor the last time they watched a movie together or played any kind of game. It had certainly been too long, though.

Just then the door opened and a woman's voice called out, "Sammy, where are you?" Her mother asked, no doubt seeing her backpack on the floor beside the coat hanger.

Her mother was, so it seemed, the obvious answer to the overall lack of a father, but Amy had always been a "mommy's girl" and the two had been growing just as close as Samey and her father had until he began to leave them more and more often.

Her mother still cared, and when serious things came up, she was a fair and loving parent, but she tended to favor Amy in a lot of the smaller things, and it seemed that she allowed Amy to get away with a bit more.

"In my room, mom!" Samey yelled back as she sat up and put her back against her pillow.

"Where's your sister?"

Samey's eyes closed with the gentle but sharp pain of her least favorite person's whereabouts being brought up, "She was at school when I left!"

"Alright, I'm going down into the office to work for a bit; I'll run out for pizza in a few hours!"

"Okay, mom!" Samey called back as she grabbed the book on her nightstand.

Hopefully _The Tale of Daring Drew_ would take her mind off Amy and the pain she brought to her life. It wasn't too likely, but it was worth a shot, and it would at least help calm her down.

Daring Drew was something new she discovered, albeit by accident, when she was walking to school with Amy a couple of weeks ago. One of the football players was picking on a group of nerds; Amy joined in, and stopped Samey from doing anything for the poor freshmen boys, and the jock stole a few of their things.

The one item Samey managed to get back was a graphic novel about a goofy, fairly incompetent skeleton barbarian named Daring Drew. The first boy was bitter about Samey's lack of aid, but the second was thankful enough, and sort of befriended her, but they really hadn't talked much since.

Maybe, in some way, her delving into Daring Drew was a form of wishing for another friend. Either way, it made Samey laugh enough to interest her, and she was now reading through the fourth, of seventeen, book in the series. She was worried when Amy first found it, but her sister didn't recognize where she had seen it prior to that moment, and brushed it off as Samey being Samey.

Amy still didn't like it, but despite her sister's disapproval, Samey continued to read, and why not? Samey wasn't always better than Amy, didn't always come in first, and didn't always get Amy's approval (actually she rarely got Amy's approval of anything unless it was really what Amy wanted) but Samey wasn't the "second Amy" no matter what her sister or anyone else said.

She wished she could find the courage to stand up to her sister like that more often, but somehow she had gotten used to it. Sad as it was, it was something she came to accept, in some ways, and while she didn't like it, she never vehemently tried to change it…

Samey read on and enjoyed herself for a time, but as the sun began to set and devolve from a bright yellow to a dazed orange,_ she_ returned home.

Amy's arrival was beckoned with a cry of frustration and a catty screaming, something along the lines of never wanting to see somebody ever again on oath of harm.

She was no doubt breaking up with another one of her boyfriends. It wasn't so uncommon, and each time Amy made a huge deal out of a boy she had known for, at best, a month or so. Samey dreaded the final moments of peace before Amy climbed the stairs, and always, those last fleeting moments passed by in a flash.

Thankfully, Amy was in too much of a fit to bother Samey at the time, and passed by her sister's room without a second thought. Samey breathed a sigh of relief and went back to her book.

Even with her sister ignoring her, though, Samey was not free of Amy's wrath. The older sibling's fury made itself known through the muffled screams from between the walls and shaking of Amy's feet stomping into the ground. She needed a tool, a punching bag-something to release some of her anger on, and Samey knew it would be her, sooner or later.

Reading became almost impossible within all of a few minutes, thanks to Amy's tantrum, so Samey put the book down and stretched as she got off the bed. The sun was setting and caked the street, her room included, in an evening glow.

Samey walked over and opened the window, finding the crimson leaf still lying outside. It wasn't stiff anymore, but it was not so weak that it crumbled with the touch of fingers either. It brought a small smile to her face. She took it inside and set it on her dresser, then put away a few clothes that her mother hadn't found the time to wash with most of the load throughout the week.

Just before she opened her door to fetch her backpack her sister burst in, a scowl etched into her face and a fist formed and ready to be swung.

"Samey!"

"Can I help you?" The younger sibling asked with an almost shocking amount of courage.

"Give me back my blue scarf," Amy demanded, "I didn't even give you permission to take it in the first place!"

"But I don't have your scarf!" Samey protested as her sister began opening dresser drawers wildly, throwing out Samey's clothes for the sake of the blue scarf, "What are you doing!?"

Samey grabbed Amy's right hand before it could fling back a top, but Amy pushed her younger sister back and onto the bed, returning then to her search. Samey got right back up and wrestled Amy onto the bed, but she was quickly pushed off the side and rolled over towards the door.

"Mom!" Amy yelled out as she went back to the dresser, followed closely by Samey.

The girls struggled with each other for a solid minute when their mother came in and promptly separated them.

"What's going on?" She asked the twins, keeping them apart from each other by their shoulders.

"She stole my scarf without permission!" Amy tattled.

"I did not; she's lying!" Samey protested.

"Then where is it?" Amy questioned bitterly.

"How should I know where your things are?" Samey replied with a question of her own.

"That just means you're-"

"Enough!" Their mother interrupted, "Sammy…do you have the scarf?"

"No, mom!" 

"She's lying!" Amy accused, and another verbal bout began, only for their mother to once more break it up. She sent Amy out, as nicely as possible, and waited for her to close the door behind her before she spoke with Samey.

"This isn't how I wanted to spend my evening, Sammy, so if you have it, just return it to your sister, okay?"

"But I don't have it," Samey pleaded, "I told you that. Why don't you believe me? You always take Amy's side, but we're both your daughters!"

"I…I know that, Sammy sweetie…"

"Do you? Dad would have listened to me…"

Samey walked over to the edge of her bed that faced the window and sat, motionless, as the sun slipped behind the hills and the great shadow of darkness began to fill the air outside.

Her mother didn't move either, and was also quiet for a while, only daring to speak up as she began to leave.

"If you say you didn't take…then I believe you…"

On that note, she left Samey alone and went to find Amy, who had made her way to the ice cream despite her mother's protest that she had not yet ordered and picked up the pizza they were meant to have for dinner.

Samey remained sitting on her bed, having survived another encounter with Amy and once again having gained little ground with mom at the cost of averting false punishment.

Still, Amy was sure to backlash; Samey's happiness was something Amy refused to allow, for some reason. They were a lot closer when they were younger, but as the years passed and Amy's ego grew, Samey became the cost for her older sister's sense of security.

That was sure to be fun, and knowing her sister, was sure to be some type of public of humiliation at school. Wonderful.

Samey let the rest of the night pass mostly in seclusion. Her mother went up to tell her about the pizza and she went down to get a few slices 20 minutes later; afterwards she went to throw her plate away and wash her hands, about 20 minutes after that, but she spent every last moment until she went to bed alone in her room.

…

She woke up to the sound of her alarm clock and the pounding on her wall, courtesy of a drowsy and edgy Amy, and slowly prepared herself for school.

Of course Amy got the first shower and used most of the hot water, and she got the bigger breakfast and the last granola bar for cheer practice that afternoon, but that, like similar aspects of her life, didn't phase Samey very much anymore.

Amy was the first out the door and the one who set the conversation, if it could be called a conversation, for the walk to school. She went on about how stupid Brad was and how low and dirty it was to dump her like he did. Samey nodded and pretended to listen, but she was doing her best to ignore Amy's rant.

Thankfully a few of Amy's friends, each one a stereotypical and mean popular girl, joined them half way to school and Samey was able to drift behind the group and let them gossip and bicker amongst each other. She was able to fully separate once they got inside the school grounds, and as per the usual order of things, Samey was sent off to grab what Amy would need for her first class and get them both ready for the school day.

It helped a little to imagine how much of a wreck Amy would be without her sister to get her through the day, but fantasies of the future didn't help much when faced with the harsh realities of the present. Students knew she was Amy's younger, stupider, less coordinated, and greedier sister, or so Amy had told them. Many left her alone, either feeling too out of place with her or steering clear because they refused to associate themselves with her on the wishes or advice of Amy.

She traversed through the already somewhat busy hallways as other students got their books or supplies or went to hang out with her friends before the bell rang. A couple of teachers were running errands too, but like most of the students they tended to do little more than acknowledge Samey.

Samey rounded the corner and ran right into another girl, knocking them both down and sending the books she was walking with sliding across the hall floors beside the binders Samey was carrying.

"Oh dear," The short, blonde girl exclaimed in a low but high pitched voice, "are you alright?"

"Oh, sure, I'm sorry I didn't see you-" Samey replied and trailed off when she realized the girl was not talking to her, but rather some very small animal, a bug of some kind she thought, in her hand.

"I'm sorry about that," The girl explained, "I totally didn't sense your aura because I was concentrating on this poor roly-poly here."

"Ummm…right…" Samey replied and scratched the back of her head. Usually she was the more awkward one in a conversation, but this girl really took the cake. She looked like she came right from some old, kooky movie and she had the social skills of a roly-poly.

Still, as dejected as it had initially made Samey feel, the kind nature of the girl was already rubbing off on her and she looked on with a strange kind of intrigue as the bug crawled up the girl's sleeve. The girl seemed to notice Samey's expression and assured her that she was, "An animal expert," and that she was only going to put it in a safer, nicer place.

"I'm Dawn," she then introduced, "pleased to meet you; you look like you could use a few friends, given how overshadowed your life has been."

Samey could not find the power to speak correctly, but her jaw dropped and she tried to convey her confusion and surprise to the best of her ability. Dawn didn't seem impressed by the lack of understanding, and she almost seemed to enjoy the uncomfortable scenario she had created.

"It's written pretty clearly on your aura," Dawn told the cheerleader, "besides, even the social outcasts like myself know your sister Amy and the kinds of things she says about you."

Samey had to admit that her loud-mouth sister did have a knack for letting anyone and everyone know about how "inferior" her younger sister was, so it really shouldn't have been _that_ much of a surprise…but still, Dawn had said it so surely and quickly…

"Well…I'm sorry for running into you, Dawn…but I should get going…I have to-"

"Get your sister's things ready? I know. You do so much for her and see so little reward…poor thing."

Samey was once again left awestruck, and relied on Dawn to continue the interaction. She handed Samey the few sheets of paper that had fallen from the binders after the cheerleader picked them up.

"I'd be happy to keep you some company, if you'd like," Dawn offered and gave a smile.

Samey almost denied the request, but realized that despite her awkward and blatant flaws, Dawn was a nice girl, and she certainly would drive Amy crazy if they ever met…besides, something in Samey told her Dawn was pretty lonely too.

"Yeah…Ok."

"That's a beautiful maple leaf," Dawn commented upon seeing the leaf from the previous evening in the cover of Samey's binder, "I love this time of year; the leaves turn such a lovely plethora of colors."

They walked along together and spoke for half an hour straight until the bell rang and they ran off for their classes. It just so happened that they had first period English together and didn't realize it until now, though periods two through four they were separated.

At lunch they found each other and, for the first time in a while, Samey was bright and cheery as Amy approached to take her lunch from her sister, who as usual had been coerced into getting it for Amy.

"About time!" Amy complained as she walked up and begrudgingly took the tray from Samey's hands.

"Oh my, I see what you mean," Dawn commented as the two looked at Amy and shared a small giggle.

"What? Samey! Have you been gossiping about me?" Amy growled and gnashed her teeth together, but her expression went blank when Dawn spoke up a second time.

"Who would need to gossip when it's written so clearly on your awfully brown aura?"

"…My what now?" Amy managed to protest after several seconds of delay.

"Don't fret," Dawn comforted, "it's only natural given how close you and Samey were and how much faster she was advancing than you in almost everything. Sadly you fell into the traps of greed and deceit…"

"Wha-How….Samey! Who's your new friend and why is she such a freak?"

"She's not a freak," Samey defended.

"I have the say so about what is and isn't freaky around here, remember? And I say-she's a freak!"

Amy, having felt she had sufficiently made her point, walked off to find her friends and tell them about the freaky girl hanging out with her loser sister. Dawn and Samey watched her go in silence, yet both had small smiles on their faces.

"Boy…she really does have issues…" Samey said as her sister disappeared into the crowd of students and left the two alone, prompting Dawn to giggle again and lead them to a free table.


End file.
